Turmeric Protects the Heart Valve Against the Risk of Cardiac Fibrosis

By Kyle J. Norton

Cardiac fibrosis is a medical condition caused by the abnormal thickening of the heart valves due to the inappropriate proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts.

In other words, cardiac fibrosis is a result of excess deposition of extracellular matrix associated with collagen enzymes, and glycoproteins involving the healing of the myocardial muscle.

According to the statistics, over 6 million people in the US suffer from heart failure, leading to reduce the function of the heart muscle to pump blood and remove waste from the body.

The most common cause of heart failure is associated with cardiac fibrosis, a scarring process that over time affects cardiac structure and function.

Therefore, preventing or reducing cardiac fibrosis progression, the risk of heart failure, and other cardiovascular diseases caused by scarring heart tissues can be reduced.

Conventionally, medications that target the renin-angiotensin system, transforming growth factor-beta, and endothelin showed to inhibit the progression of scarring in various stages of cardiac fibrosis development.

Dr. Armstrong AC, the lead scientist in the examination of the risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiac fibrosis in early cardiac dysfunction in type 1 diabetes.wrote, "Traditional CVD risk factors and elevated HbA1c levels are major factors related to early cardiac dysfunction in type 1 diabetes".

And, "Nonischemic myocardial scar, possibly as a marker of chronic exposure to known risk factors, may predict early cardiac dysfunction mediated by diffuse myocardial fibrosis as seen in diabetic cardiomyopathy".

In other words, older age, male sex, smoking history, obesity, higher blood pressure, lower HDL cholesterol, and higher mean HbA1c are some of the prevalent factors of CVD and myocardial fibrosis in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belongings to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and to treat flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On findings a potential compound for the treatment of heart disease, researchers examined the efficacy of curcumin anti-cardiac fibrosis potential.

According to the tested differentiation, Curcumin, SB431542 (a TGF-βR-Smad2 inhibitor) and SB203580 (a p38 inhibitor) showed a significant effect on the inhibition of the stimulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TGF-β1).

α-SMA and ColI associated with pathologic fibroblasts and cardiac fibrosis induced by the TGF-β1were also inhibited by the injection of curcumin and SB431542 and SB203580  via the inhibition of the genes that are regulated by TGF-beta.

Collectively, researchers said, " In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that treatment with curcumin effectively suppresses TGF-β1-induced CF differentiation via Smad-2 and p38 signaling pathways. Thus, curcumin may be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis".

Taken altogether, turmeric processed abundantly bioactive compound curcumin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of cardia fibrosis, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of turmeric in the form of supplements should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Curcumin suppresses transforming growth factor-β1-induced cardiac fibroblast differentiation via inhibition of Smad-2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways by Liu H1, Liu A2, Shi C3, Li B. (PubMed)
(2) Association of Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Myocardial Fibrosis With Early Cardiac Dysfunction in Type 1 Diabetes: The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications Study by Armstrong AC1,2, Ambale-Venkatesh B1, Turkbey E1,3, Donekal S1, Chamera E1, Backlund JY4, Cleary P4, Lachin J4, Bluemke DA3, Lima JA5; DCCT/EDIC Research Group. (PubMed)